


Something Dark in the Woods

by Light_Thistle



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drama and Comedy, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Toph Bei Fong's daddy issues, Toph can see in the SW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:22:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29351115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light_Thistle/pseuds/Light_Thistle
Summary: Aang feels there is something wrong with the spirits. With Toph's help, he will have to fix whatever is happening in the woods. But neither of them expected Toph could see in the Spirits World.
Relationships: Aang/Toph Beifong, Lao Beifong & Toph Beifong, Poppy Beifong & Toph Beifong
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Something Dark in the Woods

Toph Bei Fong was lying on the grass, enjoying the sunlight warming her skin when she felt Aang's footsteps approaching her, barely caressing the ground as always, with the staff in hand and Momo on his shoulder. He just stood there, searching for the words for whatever it was he wanted to say to her, Toph guessed.

"Uh, Toph?"

"Twinkles?"

"As you already know, I've been trying to enter the spirit world for a while."

"I hadn't noticed, it's not like you've been sitting on a rock all day in the woods while Appa and I chill out," she said sarcastically, pointing to the bison, who was sleeping on his stomach. "Not that I'm complaining. I missed having time to do nothing. Running Earthen Fire isn't so bad but it can get boring after a while. But hey, it could be worse."

"Hope you're doing well with that. Thank you for coming with me to Ba Sing Se, I know you're busy in Cranefish Town."

"No problem. And that's alright, I'm a human lie detector. It's a piece of cake. My dad comes to see me regularly and the worst problem is to put up with Loban's assholery," said Toph yawning and sitting up. "You were saying?"

"Uh, yeah. I need to enter the spirit world but I can't," said Aang hastily, nervous. "There's some kind of blockage. I think it's on me. Lately I've been feeling strange and I need to go there and check that everything is okay or-I don't know, I just need to take a look. But meditating isn't working and I think I need... help, please."

Toph stood up. "Ok, what do you need?"

"That easy? Auch," he complained when Toph pushed him, more out of habit than real pain.

"Look, I know nothing about your Avatar Mumbo Jumbo, but I do know that your Avatar Mumbo Jumbo is important. And Appa will be asleep for a couple more hours so what the heck? If you need help, just tell me. Thank me later with a foot rub or something."

"Thank you Toph."

"Do you want me to yell at you like when we're practicing Earthbending?" Toph took a deep breath and leaned closer to his face. "UNBLOCK, WIMPY AVATAR! TRY HARDER!"

"Uh... No, that's not going to work this time. What I need is for you to take your clothes off."

"What?"

"Take off your clothes. Now."

* * *

Aang knew that if Toph could see the smile on his face while she was standing there in the middle of the forest with nothing but her boy shorts and bandages covering her torso she would kill him. Although she might as well kill him anyway at any time.

"I'll kill you," said Toph confirming his suspicions. "I swear I will kill you. And when the next Water Avatar is born I will find them and kill them. And then I will kill the next Earth Avatar. And I will go down in history as Toph Bei Fong the Avatar Slayer."

"Don't forget the world's greatest earthbender."

"Don't sass me back, you fucking bald," she said punching him in his bare chest. Aang was wearing only his pants. "Who the hell told you this would work?"

"Guru Phathik."

"That crazy old man? And you believed him?!"

"I know it seems unconventional but I'm sure it'll work. If you help me I'll be in the Spirit World very soon and I'll owe you a huge favor."

"If you tell someone..."

"I'm dead, I know, I know. Have some faith in me, I know what I'm doing."

"You're dead anyway, but if you tell someone I'll destroy your four temples!"

Aang was tempted to tell her that he couldn't tell anyone if he was dead, but he preferred not to force the situation. "Alright, this is the plan: we have to run through the forest jumping up and down and yelling 'Monkeyfeathers!'. That will unlock me and I can enter the spirit world."

"It doesn't sound less ridiculous the second time."

"Don't be afraid. Trust me."

"I'm not afraid, stupid monk!"

"Great, then there will be no problem. Get ready, take a deep breath and…" Aang took a deep breath, letting the air fill his body. "Monkeyfeathers!" he yelled, but Toph didn't do the same. "Sifu Toph!"

"Spirits..."

"That's the point."

"I know, I know." She cleared her throat. "Monkeyfeathers."

"I can't hear you."

"Monkeyfeathers."

"Louder, Toph!"

"Monkeyfeathers!"

"Monkeyfeathers!"

"MONKEYFEATHERS!"

"MONKEYFEATHERS!"

"MONKEYFEATHERS!"

Aang took her hand and forced her to run alongside him, jumping around the forest. "MONKEYFEATHERS!"

"MONKEYFEATHERS!"

"MONKEYFEATHERS!"

"I hate you. MONKEYFEATHERS!"

"MONKEYF-"

Aang felt the glow of his arrows a second too late to prepare himself, and then they both stumbled and fell to the ground. When he opened his eyes a second later, his spirit was already out of his body. He could feel the soul of everything around him, especially the trees, which seemed to be watching him with the same curiosity. The color of the earth was thicker, the sky more blue and infinite, and Aang felt whole, as if he were one with the universe, as if his soul was at home and that filled him with peace.

"It worked! Thanks Toph!" he said happily to her friend but without waiting for any response, as he assumed that she would be standing next to his body and sulking at him, but still in the mortal world. But instead she was kneeling on the floor, covering her face. "Toph?"

"Aang?"

"Toph?!"

She had come out of her body just like him?! Aang felt hideously concern as he knelt in front of her, holding her wrists. "Toph, what's wrong?! Are you hurt?!"

"I don't know, my face hurts. I-" Toph removed her hands from her face and blinked many times, as if her eyes were full of sand. And then was when Aang saw it and lost his breath. The green of her eyes was different. The green in his eyes was alive. "Aang?"

"Monkeyfeathers, Toph, your eyes…"

"I-I think I can see," she said letting out a gasp and closing and opening her eyes many times, as if doubting they really worked. "Aang, I can see!"

To Toph it was all confusing and new, the second scariest thing she had ever felt in her life after Sokka's hand being the only thing keeping her from falling into the abyss, and yet she still couldn't help but smile like a child when she realized that she was seeing Aang for the first time. "Aang, I see you."

"You see me?!"

"I see you!"

"You see me?!"

"Are you deaf?!"

Aang let out a cry of pure emotion and joy, his smile being the most beautiful thing Toph could ever imagine seeing. Her friend lifted her into his arms, spinning her into the air, both laughing loudly, mad with happiness. Aang repeated 'I can't believe it' at least three times, too lost in Toph's eyes to care if he sounded like a fool.

"My eyes hurt," said Toph with her fingers on her lids. "It is normal?"

"It must be the light. You're not used to it and it can make your head hurt but it's not that bad, don't worry." Aang couldn't help himself and put both of his hands on her shoulders. Her eyes were beautiful. "Hi Sifu Toph."

Toph let out a laugh. "Hello, Twinkle Toes," she said, unable to look away, trying to etch the image of him into her memory. Aang was… a very nice thing to look at. Especially the color of his eyes. Toph just couldn't stop looking at him. "So this is…" she said touching the arrow on his head.

"Blue," he replied taking her hand.

"What's the color of your eyes? It's not blue, but it looks like it."

"Gray," replied Aang. Then he pointed to his pants. "Red." He then pointed to Toph's shorts. "Green." Then the bandages on her torso. "White." Aang took a lock of her long hair and showed it to her. "Black."

"There are many colors."

Aang pulled away a bit, suddenly very aware of how close he was to his best friend, who was still wearing very little clothing. Not that there was anything particularly revealing in sight, but Aang was a monk, and monks shouldn't look at their best friends's long, strong legs, flat, smooth stomachs, and hips that were definitely not there when they met years ago. And lean but muscular femenine arms and hair-

"Why's there red on your cheeks?" asked Toph.

"Because it's hot. It's called blushing," said Aang quickly, not lying but not telling the whole truth either. He had long ago learned that it was the only way to hide something from Toph.

"I can't feel the vibrations." Toph looked around them, letting her eyes ( _her eyes_ ) drink in all the beauty. There was green in the trees, blue in the sky, black in the depths of the forest, and red in the flowers. And in the sky, a blob that moved.

"You can't bend when you're a spirit."

"What is that red spot?" asked Toph pointing to the sky.

Reluctantly Aang looked away from the wonder of Toph seeing for the first time, to see the red dot she was pointing at. It was getting bigger and longer. The monk smiled in recognition. "It's Fang!"

"That thing is Roku's dragon?!"

"Yes, why? Did you imagine him differently?"

"Less fucking ugly!"

Fang landed gracefully in front of both of them, smelling Aang fondly immediately. "Glad to see you again, boy! How are you?" the dragon rubbed its nose against his chest. "Toph, come closer. Fang is a friend."

Toph snorted out loud, remembering that she was a badass even without being able to earthbend momentarily. The brunette walked steadily toward the red dragon, stopping a few inches in front of him and staring at him ( _staring at him!_ ) intently.

Fang roared in her face and Toph fell to the ground. Aang burst out laughing, and although it was physically impossible for a dragon to laugh, what Fang was doing was quite similar.

"Stupid monk!" yelled Toph punching him on the shoulder.

"Au! Okay, okay, I deserve that one," he said laughing and rubbing his shoulder.

As an apology, Fang rubbed his head against Toph's hand.

"I don't forgive you." Fang sniffed her head. "Okay, but don't you dare bite me!"

"I believe he's here to take us to the spirit world," said Aang as he climbed onto the dragon's back. "Is that right boy? Do you want us to go with you?"

"Can you ride spirit dragons?"

"If you're the reincarnation of his best friend, yes. C'mon Toph!" he said reaching out his hand to her, feeling a chill when their eyes met. He would never get used to the feeling. "We don't have to go to the spirit world right away. I mean, it's pretty early… And there's a lot to see."

Her face lit up in the most beautiful smile when he took her hand.

Toph let out a cry of excitement as Fang soared into the clouds. Nothing mattered other than enjoying every precious minute. She could see, and everything was beautiful and bright and she wanted to see everything. The sky was beautiful, the clouds were beautiful, Aang was beautiful ( _beautiful, beautiful, Aang is beautiful_ ) and the euphoria in her chest threatened to make her smile tear her face in two. She didn't even care that Aang had his hands on her waist and that his breath tickled her neck. A distant voice in her brain told her that she should punch him away, but Toph just didn't want to listen to anything but her heart.

* * *

White. Everything was white and blue around them, and below her, and in the sky. The city they were arriving in was resplendent and seemed to be made of glass, even with Toph's scant experience she knew that it was so because it was new.

Fang flew so close to the roofs of the houses that Toph felt like she could touch them if she reached out. Beside her, Aang excitedly pointed to everything he deemed noteworthy. The sea, the icebergs in the distance, the legislature, the walls, and finally the park, where Fang landed as softly as only a spirit could.

They were there, sitting on ice cubes, and Toph just knew it was them. Their voices, their heights, their essence, and she let out a laugh to avoid a sob. Who she guessed was Gran Gran was teaching Suki how to build an igloo, while Katara and Sokka watched them at a picnic table made of ice as they drank a black drink.

"And?" asked Aang eager to know her opinion.

"Now I understand why you liked Katara. Hell, Twinkles, she looks like a princess. And look at Suki. She, arg, looks like a warrior but she's gorgeous at the same time. This seeing thing is affecting my use of adjectives. And Sokka. Hell, Aang, I always knew Sokka was handsome but he's-ARG, HE'S SEXY! ARG! Look at those stupid blue eyes and his stupid jaw and stupid biceps!"

"Yeah," replied Aang crossing his arms and frowning. "I guess he's fine."

"Fine?! Just fine?! How the hell doesn't the town melt with Sokka living here?! He's a fuckin snack-Okay, no, Toph. Get hold of yourself. Don't spiritually drool. It's not badass."

"Haha, Toph. I thought you didn't like Sokka anymore."

"And it's true, I don't like Sokka anymore. But Sokka's body? Sokka's body would do things to anyone and hell! I have to take a closer look, I don't want to forget a single detail."

"Let's go now Toph, we shouldn't be late."

"Suki, you lucky bitch!" yelled Toph as Aang yanked her hand back at the dragon. "You lucky bitch!"

As Aang and Toph climbed onto the dragon, a few feet away, Suki stopped building the igloo to get her canteen out of her pocket and drink some Moke Mola, the sweet black drink that was becoming popular. "Ugh, there's nothing left," she said upon finding her empty canteen. She suddenly looked up at the sky in confusion, a strange feeling in her chest. "I don't know why," the Kyoshi warrior said. "But suddenly I have the feeling that Toph, wherever she is, thinks I'm a lucky bitch."

"Stop distracting yourself and finish that igloo," said Kanna, smoking marijuana next to her. "No grandson of mine is going to marry someone who can't make igloos."

* * *

The spirits must have a different concept of distance, because Fang reached the Fire Nation in just five minutes, when Toph knew from experience that such a journey on Appa would have taken days. If before her eyes had experienced an explosion of white and blue for the first time, now everything on the ground was black and red. There was fire everywhere: lamps, bonfires, and decorations on people's clothing. Seeing the fire was totally different from feeling the vibrations of it. Before Toph had only experienced it as heat and energy. But it was also light. And looking at it filled her with a reassuring feeling; it wasn't painful like looking at the sun.

Zuko's castle, ironically, was grim. A huge solemn place full of shadows. Aang told her that it was usually brighter, but it was too early and the lamps were probably not on yet. Toph was able to add colors to the places she already knew by heart: the throne room, the small pond of turtleducks, the hallways, the garden where Zuko let her Earthbend when she visited...

Fang crossed the hallways to Zuko's private office, going through the door as if they were made of simple air. Inside it, Zuko was in front of a mirror, his hair being combed by a cheerful Kyoshi warrior who could only be Ty Lee. A bored-looking girl was playing with a knife on the couch, and Uncle Iroh was sitting at the desk, drinking his first morning tea.

"Ty Lee, I can-ah! I can do my hair myself, or have someone else do it for me," Zuko protested.

"But they won't make you look as handsome as I will, duh," Ty Lee replied ignoring him. "One or two ponytails, Mai?"

"No ponytails, Ty Lee, it's too early for that," her friend replied.

Toph jumped off the dragon, being followed by Aang. "Hell, Ozai was an animal. That must have hurt," said Toph, looking at the huge scar on Zuko's face. She wondered if that eye even worked.

Aang wanted to answer Toph, but at that moment he noticed that Iroh had turned in their direction, as if he could hear them.

"I guess those are Jumpy and Sunshine. Jumpy is fine, I guess, but I imagined her less... pink. Suki won't be happy to know that she put pink on Kyoshi's ancestral uniform. Sunshine looks exactly how I imagined her, though. And actually Sparky is pretty sexy too. Not as sexy as Sokka but- "

"Toph," said Aang interrupting his friend. "Iroh is watching us."

Toph looked at Iroh, sitting on the desk and staring at them with an indecipherable expression.

"It can't be, we're spirits. Made of Avatar Mumbo Jumbo. He must be looking at a damp stain on the wall or something."

Iroh winked at them, smiling.

Aang let out an exclamation of astonishment. "Monkeyfeathers! He can see us!"

"What the hell?!"

"Uncle Iroh, can you hear us?!"

The old general took the mug next to him and got up from his seat. "You will have to excuse me, Firelord Zuko, Firelady Mai, Miss Ty Lee, I'm a little sick to my stomach this morning and I have to go to the bathroom."

"Alright Uncle," replied Zuko pulling from the two braids in his hair. "Ty Lee, that's enough. Either you fix my hair in a knot or leave me alone. I have no time to waste."

Iroh walked towards their direction and got out the door. Aang and Toph shared a look and followed him into the hall. There, the two teenagers saw the old general patting Fang's head. Aang felt that his surprise and confusion were limitless. "Do you know him?" asked the airbender.

"Fang is an old friend, we met when I was looking for my son," Iroh replied with a smile. "Avatar Aang, Lady Bei Fong, it's a pleasure to see you again, dear friends. In your case for the first time, Toph. What do you think about the world? Do you like it? It must be exciting for you."

"It's… definitely interesting," replied Toph. "You look older than I imagined, Pops."

Iroh laughed. "Same old Toph."

"How are you able to see us, Uncle Iroh?" asked Aang. "We're spirits. No one is supposed to see us."

"Almost no one, Aang. People in touch with his spiritual side can see you perfectly… And also those who drink a lot of Moke Mole." He said moving his cup. "I don't know exactly why. Stay away from my niece, Azula won't stop drinking this thing and you could give her another psychotic break. And my young friends, why are you wearing so little clothing?"

Aang felt embarrassed, covering his torso with his arms. Toph also blushed but refused to look embarrassed.

"We had some difficulty crossing," said Aang.

"And your clothes didn't cross with you?"

"It's a long, boring and embarrassing story, Pops," said Toph sharing a warning look with Aang. "Well, seeing you was a pleasure but we should go now. We're supposed to go to the Spirit World to talk to Zuko's ghostly great-grandfather and we still have one last stop to make. Maybe next time you could come with us. You could set up a tea shop in the spirit world," Toph joked.

Aang frowned at the mention of a next time.

"I would love to go with you wherever you want, Toph," the older man replied fondly. "Next time."

"Goodbye Uncle Iroh," said Aang, following the brunette toward the dragon again.

* * *

"Gaoling?" asked Aang on Fang's back once he figured out where they were going.

Toph was silent, as if she hadn't heard him.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell me," said the monk, looking at the houses on the ground. "But I can listen if you want to talk."

"I just… I need to see it, just for a moment," she said curtly, as if even she didn't know exactly what she was feeling. Which was most likely, because Toph had the emotional understanding of a stone. "Just one look and then we leave."

"As you wish, Toph. Whatever you need."

Less than a minute later, Fang landed on Toph's estate, on the southern garden, under the oak tree and next to the bridge and the small man-made lake. Toph took a deep breath and jumped off the dragon, frowning with a critical look at everything around them. For a moment it looked like she was going to take a couple of steps up to the bridge, but she stayed still where she was. Aang was more interested in reading the various emotions on her face than in the well-known beauty of the place. He knew that this experience was not just new, but intimate and even vulnerable. She was trusting him in one of the most private moments of her life. And Aang didn't want to ruin it.

"It's not ugly," she finally said.

"Did you imagine it ugly?"

"For years I imagined it… Ahg, this adjectives thing is starting to bother me."

"Gloomy? Sad?"

"That. Like a prison. But it doesn't look like a prison." Toph pursed her mouth, as if she was trying to decipher a riddle. "This is just a house. I could even say a nice house, I think, but I haven't seen many houses. What do you think? Are all houses like that?"

"Well, this one is bigger and prettier, but I haven't been in many houses either. I'm, you know, a nomad."

"This conversation is pointless."

"On the contrary, Toph," Aang smiled. "I perfectly understand."

His friend stared at him for two seconds, before looking away again at the artificial lake.

"Do you remember where we are?" asked Aang with a smile.

Toph arched an eyebrow, before realizing it. "Here I told you about my earthbending for the first time, before that pair of dunderheads kidnapped us."

"You said, and I quote, 'I see with earthbending. It's kind of like seeing with my feet. I feel the vibrations in the earth, and I can see where everything is. I see you, that tree, even the ants'. I guess you must have felt pretty lonely here, and that's why you imagined that your house would be ugly or gloomy. But mine are different because when I think of your home, I think of the day we met and that was one of the happiest days of my life," said Aang in a calm voice. "I think about that day a lot. The bush where I landed, the fight at dinner, the mashed potatoes on your mom's face."

Toph let out a laugh.

"And when we talked here that night, so many years ago, I just knew it had to be you. I knew I needed you to beat Ozai. Because you made me feel… full of hope." Aang took her hand. "So what if we create more happy memories here, until you have so many that you forget about the bad ones? And then it will stop feeling like a prison and you will see it for what it really is: just a house."

Toph let out a laugh that felt like a sob, real, different, without sarcasm or mockery. "Okay, Twinkles. It's not the craziest thing I've heard today."

Then her face turned into a grimace of horror and she looked away. Confused, Aang looked behind her and saw Lord and Lady Bei Fong walking hand in hand towards the lake. "Hey, it's your parents!"

"I know they're my parents, airhead, I'm blind not stupid!"

"You're not technically blind right now. Do you want to take a look at them?"

"NO!" she said angrily. "I don't want to know what they look like! That would turn them into real people!"

"Toph, they're already real people."

"I don't want to know what they look like!"

"Alright."

"I don't care."

"Okay."

"Okay!" said Toph crossing her arms. Two seconds later she punched imr hard, but it didn't hurt because they were spirits. Aang faked a groan of pain to make her feel better. "Stupid Twinkle Toes."

Toph turned to see her parents for the first time, making sure her face remained blank so Aang couldn't bother her with more emotional bullshit than what the strictly necessary. But it was very difficult. She could feel her heart pounding. She was seeing her parents for the first time in her life. And they looked criminally normal, walking around the garden and talking about something that shouldn't be very important because they looked _normal, too normal_. Just a married couple on a normal day. For a moment, Toph felt cheated: there were no disinterested eyes, no cruel smiles, no smirks of vanity. They were nothing like the image of them that she had always had in her mind and she didn't know how to process that. "Is he ugly?"

"Uh-"

"He's not ugly. Why is he not ugly? I imagined him ugly. And older. But he just looks..." Toph pursed her lips. "That mustache is ridiculous."

"It's traditional from the Earth Kingdom."

"It's traditionally ridiculous then." She took a deep breath. "And she's my mom," she said without knowing why she was explaining the obvious. "Um... She's pretty."

"Really?"

"A lot." Toph had to keep looking. If she kept insisting sooner or later she was going to find the strict, overprotective mother in that woman who smiled like the sun and laughed with joy, with eyes of the brightest green she had ever seen and hair thick and black as the depths of the forest. But she couldn't find her. "They look normal."

"They don't have fangs and claws, if that's what you expected."

Toph sighed. "You're right, they don't."

It was then that they got close enough to notice that Toph's father had a cup in his hand, and was drinking a black liquid.

"Is that…?"

"Crap," said Toph.

And then Lao raised his head and stopped in the middle of the garden, his eyes widening. "Toph?!"

Toph and Aang looked at him with equally horrified faces.

"Sifu T..."

"Twinkles..."

"Toph Bei Fong!" Lao exclaimed in horror, and Poppy looked at him with concern and surprise. "What are you doing half naked in the middle of the garden with a dragon and that monk?!"

"Run," said Toph said turning around and running towards Fang at full speed. "RUN, AANG, SHIT, RUN FOR FUCK'S SAKE! NO, NO IN CIRCLES YOU JERK! STRAIGHT! STRAIGHT! FANG, YIP FUCKIN YIP OR WHATEVER THE FUCK!"

"TOPH!"

But before Toph's father could get close, Fang took off into the sky.

"Lao, what on Earth are you doing?" asked Poppy.

The man nearly dropped the Moke Mola cup. "Toph! She was in her underwear with her friend the delinquent monk and a dragon and Spirits Poppy I think she could see-"

"You won't drink this thing again. It's got too much sugar. Give it to me."

"But-"

"Now, Lao."


End file.
